Mill, I'm not going to bash your opinion of the defense, I think we all expected you to put a negative spin on it after all. But I am really curious as to what it would ever take out of our defense to have a game that would satisfy you? Would it have to be nothing less than a shutout with 3 or more turnovers, 4+ sacks, and under 200 total yards? Pretty hard to do that every week in the NFL.

Were they perfect last night? No. Were they pretty damn good? Yeah, especially in the second half. They really only made one mistake the entire second half on the Rice TD. Other than that the Ratbirds got nothing, and the forced the big turnover that flipped the game in the 4th quarter.

As usually, a solid report from Mill, but with grades way too harsh, especially for our Defense.

I mean, can you do us a favor and stop citing FG drives as harsh criticism for our defensive coordinator?!?! Have you looked around the NFL lately??

---How about how many points they are giving up per game?---How many points in the 4th quarter? ---How many games have we been blown out this year?

Have you seen the "championship caliber" defenses that have been winning the super bowl recently? Besides the Steelers, you have the Giants, Packers, Saints, and New England, all of which gave up more yards, points, and yes, even points in crunch time also.

My point?....There are no "championship caliber" defenses in the NFL anymore!! There are many reasons for this, but take a look at the other teams with the 'best defenses'....

Houston: Got torched once or twice this yearSF: Continue to have embarrassing lossesChicago: Just got beat at home by Seattle and got embarrassed recently

Again I ask, which defense to you want us to swap with, right now? Harrison is clearly still hurt, Ike was out, Troy still probably has rust.

The one thing I do agree with you is that our rush defense is no longer what it was... giving up a full yard per carry more it seems these days... very concerning.

Anyways, I was really proud the way 28 played last night... he played good coverage and yeah had a PI call and a TD, but the TD was a *perfect* pass and he was right there...

***

Bottom line is that.... in my humble opinion : ), Lebeau is having a better year this year compared to last, especially after that inexcusable performance against the Broncos. The pass defense has performed better... they just have.... and the run defense was not very good last year, and is still not great this year. But to my memory was have not been blown out once this year yet.... I give him a B+ for the year.

Two moments in that game that made me proud to be a Steeler fan: 1. With 3:00 left Batch had pulled in his O-lineman and had a long 20 or 30 second talk. I wish I could read lips but the look on Batch's face and the body language of the linemen lead me to believe something awesome was about to happen. 2. The emotional hug with Batch & Ben at the end was something you just don't see from 90% of the league. While many call them old as they keep resigning players into their 30's, I say it builds trust, teamwork, and selflessness.

This team fucking rocked it yesterday with multiple key injuries. When Ike left the game I thought we were completely screwed. How can you not be impressed with the way our secondary is playing, especially the way the league is today? I was very impressed with Cortez Allen in particular and all the CB's kept their heads turned on the ball this week. I can't remember a single play where the DB was turned around or flailing their arms with their back to the ball.

Well, I think I've figured it out. In order to save time and effort, Mill has a file of a previous defense review saved on his computer, that he copies & pastes each week. That would explain how the defense always gets a mediocre grade, no matter what.

I agree about the DB performance.... they seemed to be on top of most plays and yes, no clueless plays that i saw..... I guess that is part of the reason why they are giving up fewer pass plays and yards than most other teams right now.

Can anyone confirm that Still Mill is not really a Ravens fan? Why all the hate for Dick LeBeau? Did he refuse you a speaking engagement or autographed football?Criticism is one thing, downright hate is another. Tomlin is probably the biggest culprit of all the coaches. How about his public rebuke of Mike Wallace, then starting him anyway and the first pass of the game is thrown to who, you guessed it, Mike Wallace. Mike is the Barack Obama of coaches, says all the right things then does the opposite.

NOVASteel79 wrote:I am really curious as to what it would ever take out of our defense to have a game that would satisfy you? Would it have to be nothing less than a shutout with 3 or more turnovers, 4+ sacks, and under 200 total yards?

caliswain wrote:As usually, a solid report from Mill, but with grades way too harsh, especially for our Defense.

You guys are just going to have to get used to this, and gain what amusement you can from it. This game review is always part parody, even if it's not intended to be. Whenever a Steeler player(s), or coach(s) gets a bulls eye drawn on him, be it from whatever Mill perceives, then it's there to stay and there will never be cease fire. You can rationalize this phenomenon however you want, but I don't really care 'cause it's funny as hell most of the time. Looking forward to Mill's acidic urine bath, after a loss, is one of the only things that softens the blow of it for me.

I come for entertainment! SOMETIMES there is a nugget of truth, but most of the time it's just a total negative slant on anything that happens. That includes the down, distance, situation, calls, holds, penalties... you name it.

Even in a perfect game there would ALWAYS be something to write in a negative context. So, after a bad game - Mill can't just say it was a bad game - to give validity to his opinion piece (he calls analysis) there needs to be an actor. Thus we have our Dongs. Be it LaMarr, or Socrates, or whoever. THAT gives the validity to the piece.

On the other hand - since the steelers do NOT win SBowls EVERY year, there is ALWAYS someone to blame for a loss - and even in the case of a W - it's the missed opportunities that become subject of his writing. Through THAT subject he ALWAYS introduces new actors - and the point is always proven.

If a runner is stopped at the line of scrimmage on a design plunge two outcomes are possible for Mill: 1) runner danced too long, without vision, determination, or understanding (thus an overpaid lazy bum who should be cut yesterday), or2) particular lineman(man) was a lazy oaf with horrid technique, slow feet, week arms, and no brain who is also immediately one overpaid lazy bum.

It's as if there is only 11 players on the field, and all the opposing players are nimrods, who have no place of being in the league in the first place.

Flip the script on the defense -> stillers are overpaid and slowfooted and blind, and whatever, and opposing offense has only scrubs playing and beating our overpaid dumbasses.

Hehehe. I find that WRITING funny! That's why I come back every week.

I wonder how would the report look if our Defense allowed barely a 100 yards total, every punt by PS would be blown up into a fumble and recovered by PS STeams, and if our offense would put 400yards. Now, in that case - there would be the HORRIBLE opponents problem for not showing up to play, and sub-par varsity opposition to the stillers. Feasting on inferior opponent would be jotted down as another of those fake statistics on (insert coordinators name)'s resume!

See - it's a win-win for Mill - and I for one Like iT! Not for accuracy - but for a different viewpoint.

It's akin to ppl watching Fox News or pMSNBC for news... they SHOULD NOT. It's so slanted - that only half of the truth is presented. Unwinnable.

JimPgh1 wrote:Well, I think I've figured it out. In order to save time and effort, Mill has a file of a previous defense review saved on his computer, that he copies & pastes each week. That would explain how the defense always gets a mediocre grade, no matter what.

I've been saying for years that I could probably write one of Mill's game wrapups before the game was even played and have it be at least 5% accurate. It's not the same write-up every week, with some specific plays from that game sprinkled in to give the illusion that it's new.

I've even thought about writing an automated Mill article generator where you could just push a button and have it spit out an article. I don't even think it'd be that hard to write. I'm just too much of a fucking tool to figure it out though.

I'm sad, though. There was a time when I made some sense. Now, I'm just a mindless tool, and a budding homosexual to boot.

PsychoWard86 wrote:I'm sad, though. There was a time when I made some sense. Now, I'm just a mindless tool, and a budding homosexual to boot.

Oh well.

Sheesh. That's a lot of problems to deal with, but don't be so hard on yourself, or whomever is your boyfriend.

"sore vagina" LOL!! Mill, you gotta make sure and assign a weekly sore vagine award. tff. Like you and Socal - that post game Batch Ben hugin was a tear jerker and I did see Charlie firing up the troops "said to Mrs Heaven - look Honey - Charlies got a fire in his belly. Heath saved our ass from Sanders and the clanger. I remember when Limas Peed dropped that TD bomb and did an ankle flop. Sanders garnered my rage last night. Hope he learns from it. Wallace is gone next year. Batch played a gooood fucking game. Suisham is now a Valuable asset for a team that will always be coming from behind or tied in the 4th QTR. "sore vagina" LOL!!!

PsychoWard86 wrote:I'm sad, though. There was a time when I made some sense. Now, I'm just a mindless tool, and a budding homosexual to boot.

Oh well.

Sheesh. That's a lot of problems to deal with, but don't be so hard on yourself, or whomever is your boyfriend.

Play your childish games all you want. It doesn't change the truth. And the truth is that your writeups just don't have any depth to them.

You think being overly negative somehow equates to being more accurate.

That's false.

Here's the real truth. Providing what you call "analysis" without any context around it provides zero value. For the past few weeks, you've given Lebeau "C" grades, which would indicate that the defense is only playing average.

So who in the NFL is playing better defense than the Steelers right now? If we're only average, then there must be at least 10 teams playing better, right?

Anyone with half a brain knows that's not the case. Which means that you judge the defense against some mythical standard that doesn't exist. Where's the value in that? How is your "analysis" supposed to help your readers understand how effective our defense is when you're completely unable to compare it against the other defenses in the league?

So, come on, give me that list. I know you won't, but I'm going to ask anyways. Give me a list of all the defenses in the NFL that are playing better than ours. Prove your analysis means something. Prove you don't have personal bias. Prove that you're right.

The newbies are still detoxing from Koolaid addiction. They dont get it. This is the place for gloves off analysis and ruthless, yes, ruthless criticism. This is not where they are going to get their vaginas coddled

When asked if his critique of players was too harsh Rodney Harrison said "they collect a paycheck right?

PGHeaven wrote:The newbies are still detoxing from Koolaid addiction. They dont get it. This is the place for gloves off analysis and ruthless, yes, ruthless criticism. This is not where they are going to get their vaginas coddled

When asked if his critique of players was too harsh Rodney Harrison said "they collect a paycheck right?

I like the analysis here too and couldn't give a frog's fat ass what the grades or opinions are. Opinions are just like assholes - everyone's got one. Bottom line is people need to quit being so hyper-sensitive and enjoy the site for what it is. I like the no bullshit approach here and it needs to stay that way. It's refreshing for people like me to come here and collect a few laughs as the world around us becomes more pussified, socialized, and politically correct.

Every time I think I'm out...they pull me back in. Awesome win for the Stillers, despite the imperfections. And, yes, Newbies, it would take a perfect performance to get a perfect grade. Not sure what is so complicated about that. If Mill just started throwing A plusses around willy nilly, they would lose their meaning for when they are actually deserved. You want to live in a wrld where the Steelers have the best player ever at every position and everybody plays perfectly and they win every game 100-0? Play Madden.

isfry wrote:Every time I think I'm out...they pull me back in. Awesome win for the Stillers, despite the imperfections. And, yes, Newbies, it would take a perfect performance to get a perfect grade. Not sure what is so complicated about that. If Mill just started throwing A plusses around willy nilly, they would lose their meaning for when they are actually deserved. You want to live in a wrld where the Steelers have the best player ever at every position and everybody plays perfectly and they win every game 100-0? Play Madden.

I could care less about the grades, and don't think every time we win that all the players and coaches should be considered "perfect." I'm new to the forum, but have read this site for years partly b/c I have enjoyed the criticism of certain players and playes when it's deserved, and that criticism is too hard to find alot of the time in places like the Gazette. I guess the key part of that sentence is "when it's deserved." The only thing that I don't like, and seems to be much more of it over the past few years is the stubborn refusal to give credit to certain players/coaches when it is due.